Grades: San Antonio Spurs vs. Chicago Bulls – Game #22
Harrison Barnes and the Spurs fell short versus the Bulls (Photo via X)
The San Antonio Spurs played the Chicago Bulls without Victor Wembanyama on Thursday night. While the Spurs were able to find ways to put points on the board, their defense really struggled without their defensive superstar.
Things got ugly pretty fast for San Antonio. By the end of the first, the Bulls were up 36-22. San Antonio was able to make a few runs but their defense could never solidify enough to climb out of the hole. When the smoke cleared, Chicago had a 139-124 victory.
Stats: Spurs vs. Bulls
Spurs vs. Bulls – Final Grades
Chris Paul
The good: Paul’s wisdom is one of the leading reasons why the Spurs scored 124 points. His directing of traffic was great, his passes were on target and his motor was unrelenting. The bad: Paul was inefficient shooting-wise and his defense was nothing to write home about.
Grade: B
Harrison Barnes
After a recent hot streak, Barnes has cooled off. In his last three games, he’s now 6-for-23 from the field and has missed all his three-point attempts in that time span. Against the Bulls, Barnes kept mistakes to a minimum, played with energy but just couldn’t get anything going.
Grade: C-
Jeremy Sochan
It was another highly productive outing in Sochan’s second game back from thumb surgery. He was physical near the rim and ferocious on the boards. He was screening and cutting with purpose. He looks like he’s in even better shape than before he got hurt. In Thursday night’s game, Sochan started at center. Offensively, I thought it worked well. Defensively? Yeah, no, not so much. Sochan struggled against Nikola Vicevic and Chicago’s center ended the game with 39 points.
Grade: B-
Stephon Castle
The good: Castle got to the line ten times and hit eight. His passing was very good, he took care of the ball and his drives to the hoop were stout. I liked his defense for the most part but he was out of control at times. The bad: Castle struggled shooting the ball — let’s hope he can get back on track soon. His decision-making on both ends wasn’t consistent.
Grade: C+
Julian Champagnie
Champagnie struggled on defense. He’s been good on that end this season but that wasn’t the case versus the Bulls. Offensively, he was decent. He didn’t quite do enough to turn the tide but he hit a pair of threes and exhibited some wherewithal on drives and cuts.
Grade: C
Keldon Johnson
The silver lining of this loss was Johnson’s play, as he finished with 28 points in 28 minutes. His teammates were feeding him and Johnson took advantage. His hard-nosed drives to the hoop were very difficult for the Bulls to handle. His touch in the paint was good, he got to the free throw line for eight attempts and his relentlessness kept San Antonio afloat. Defensively, he was okay-ish.
Grade: A-
Devin Vassell
Vassell cooled off against the Bulls. He was only 1-for-5 from three-point range, however he was able to hit half of his ten two-point attempts and he went to the charity stripe for six shots. Vassell’s playmaking was decent. Defensively, Vassell was actually pretty good. In a sea of despair, he remained active and ended up with four steals.
Grade: B+
Zach Collins
Collins had a forgettable first stint but eventually found his rhythm. His scoring punch helped the Spurs stick around. On defense, Collins did well both in passing lanes and defending the rim. All in all, San Antonio’s backup center played well enough for his team to win.
Grade: B
Charles Bassey
Bassey got some minutes but he didn’t really move the needle. I liked his awareness on offense and the physicality he played with on both ends. But he wasn’t actually helping out too much on the defensive end. Too often in this game, Bassey was just in the way.
Grade: C
Blake Wesley
Wesley got some real minutes but failed to make a noticeable impact. He was flying around the court but was rarely involved in the action.
Grade: C+
Sandro Mamukelashvili
Mamukelashvili hit an early three-pointer but then faded into the background. The hustle was there — but that was about it.
Grade: C+
Mitch Johnson
Starting Sochan at center wasn’t a bad idea on paper but it turned out to hurt the team. The rotation was a bit jumbled and Johnson could never find a unit that could play adequate defense.
Grade: C